At the age of four, Han, a young woman born into dire poverty in 1950s Singapore, is sold as a slave to the wealthy house of Wu. Forming a close bond with the young Wu heir, Han's childhood attachment grows into a bittersweet existence of frustrated love and passion. As their love becomes a struggle against the forces of tradition and tyranny, author Catherine Lim evocatively captures the ethos of a wealthy and powerful Chinese household in an era of breathtaking beauty and shocking brutality.